Tonight I Dream. Tomorrow I Do!

Tag Archives: Pork and Basil

Welcome to my new series… Week One …In my kitchen… where you will get an insight into what I have been cooking this week…Plus a bit of chat and trivia it would be boring otherwise…

It has been a bit slow this week as we all know the week after Christmas and the New Year just eases itself in with a whisper…Or comes in with a bang…and no I haven’t blown up my new oven…

The last of our guests went home today so peace and quiet reigns…It has been hectic but lovely so hubby is out in the garden sweeping up the leaves although a stinker of a tropical storm is expected the first New Year storm of this magnitude for 68 years we are not in the direct path although we may still experience high winds I haven’t had the heart to tell him his sweeping may be in vain…

My son has gone back to the UK and has probably just about landed…When he returns he goes back with his suitcase packed with goodies…Fresh herbs ones which he can’t get in the UK…a blow your head off Thai Curry paste for his brother and bottles of cooking sauces again which he cannot get there and coconut milk because believe it or not he cannot get 100% Coconut milk…The max % is about 60% of brands the ones we buy here are 100%…

When he told me this I was appalled but as he said it is cheaper for manufacturers to add guar gum and the like … for examplecoconut extract (56 per cent), water, stabiliser (E466), emulsifier (E435), antioxidant (citric acid). E466 is another name for carboxymethyl cellulose. E435 is another name for polysorbate 60.

Mine here 100% Coconut Milk…

Kitchen Tip: Try to find a brand which only contains coconut milk and water and if you can’t and use one of the other brands be careful not to let the liquid boil as it will separate.

I also made him some Indian spice mixes to take with him…

Chettinad Masala Powder:

Ingredients:

16 dried red chillies

4 tsp of black pepper

3 tbsp cumin seeds

3 tbsp dried unsweetened coconut

4 tbsp coriander seeds

2 bay leaves

4-star anise

8 cloves

4 x 1 inch sticks of cinnamon

4 tbsp fennel seeds

20 fresh/dried curry leaves

Dry roast all the ingredients you may have to do this in a couple of batches depending on your pan but be careful not to burn the spices.

Transfer to a plate or dish and allow to cool down before grinding to a powder.

Store in an airtight container. This recipe makes enough for 3/4 curries.

The original recipe I found on Madraasi @ a Tamilian Tales and is now my go-to Indian curry spice mix and one we all love…

The second Indian spice I made for him to take back was a Garam Masala Powder.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Coriander seeds

3 tbsp cumin seeds

6 whole cloves

10 green cardamom pods

2 large bay leaves

4 dried red chillies

2-inch piece of cinnamon

1 large piece of mace

2 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp of fennel seeds

Roast each spice in a non-stick pan until warm and fragrant. Cool completely then grind the spices to a fine powder this will keep in an airtight container for about 3 months and then the spices will start to lose their flavour.

Use as per your recipe.

I always grind my own spices as it is so easy to do they are fresh and much cheaper than buying those small pots or packages with of course additives.

It also makes a lovely present with a handwritten recipe everyone likes to receive a homemade gift …I love to send them x

I came across this recipe for Gluten Free Banana Pancakes when I was reading blogs this morning and as I have a glut of bananas I thought I have most of the ingredients although I did a little tweak here and there and they were very nice even hubby liked them…Thank you, Bailey, from bites by bai they were lovely.

Maple Walnut Banana Pancakes…

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana

3/4 of a cup of rolled oats

2 large organic eggs

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp of maple syrup

Chopped banana, blueberries, walnuts and maple syrup to serve.

Put the banana, oats, eggs, baking soda and maple syrup in the blender and blitz until smooth and well combined.

Heat your pan and add some mix cook for about 2 mins each side I did find they cooked quite quickly so watch you don’t burn them…

Serve with sliced banana, blueberries or fruit of your choice, walnuts and maple syrup…They were actually very yummy…

I didn’t have gluten-free oats so mine were not gluten-free but still healthy and I had no maple syrup extract so substituted maple syrup, the walnuts I caramelised and I didn’t have blueberries…and I cooked mine in grass-fed butter… I will make them again and next time will add blueberries as they will add that touch of tartness…

Last night we had Grapow moo with morning-glory which is a lovely Thai vegetable stir-fried with garlic and chillies.

Stir-fried Morning Glory or Pad Pak Boon Fai Daeng is also known as water spinach…It is a very popular vegetable dish in Thailand and one I have for breakfast/brunch quite often with rice.
This is a very quick dish to cook once you have all your ingredients prepared..5 mins at the most.Ingredients:

1 bunch of Morning Glory

4-6 cloves of garlic

3 or more Thai Chillies

2 tbsp of Oyster Sauce

1 tbsp of Thai Fish Sauce

1 tbsp of fermented soybean paste or oil with soya beans

1 tsp sugar

1/2 to 1 tbsp of oil

1/4 cup fresh veg or pork stock

Let’s Cook!
Wash and cut your morning-glory into 4-6 inch pieces.
Bash the chillies and garlic in a pestle and mortar
Heat the oil in a pan until very hot.
Add the garlic and chillies and stir-fry ( stirring) for 15-20 seconds be careful not to let garlic burn.
Add morning-glory and all other ingredients except for the vegetable stock.
Stir-fry for 40 seconds and add vegetable stock and stir-fry for another 10 seconds.
Serve with steamed rice.
Enjoy!

On my trip to the market the other morning I came across some lovely pigs trotters I haven’t cooked them for years they used to be a favourite of my dads and I remember my mum cooking them…I will be checking out some recipes and will share with you next week I am going to cook them in the slow cooker and try to crisp up the skin…

That’s all for this week from me I will be back in full swing next week so I hope you will join me …If you love what you read then please share, reblog or pin the recipes I am trying to raise my profile on Pinterest it would help me lots x

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about and there will be more on this on my blog this year

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Thank you, Sally, for hosting me once again… Nearly time for all the Christmas recipes…I love this time of year just wish it was a little colder(sort of)…lol…It adds to the atmosphere of Christmas…Hugs x

Hello and welcome wasn’t it fun last Wednesday at Sally’s Halloween party? I hope you all enjoyed our post on Onions and Garlic it certainly kept the vampires away and didn’t our Sally look absolutely amazing?

The week before Halloween I posted on how to make perfect Fried rice and it seemed from the comments to be a popular post…I also discovered that many of you love stir fries and dishes which can be made quickly and are just as easy to make for one as for 6 people. A boon when you are working or have writing deadlines to meet and know that you do need to eat but don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen but want a tasty meal…

Most Thai meals are stir fried…Thais don’t have ovens like we do and many just cook on one ring or an open fire so one wok and…

Healthy eating should be the priority and the habit of a lifetime…No fads, no weighing every day or week and then beating your self up because you haven’t lost anything.

It is about being aware of what you are eating and knowing if what you are eating is improving your health. It is not about removing whole food groups from our diets we need a healthy well-balanced diet to be at our optimum health.

Last week I wrote about WW ( Weight Watchers) changing their thinking I wonder how far they will go and whether other diet plans will follow suit…

A question for you…In what way can I help you???

It is easy for me to sit here…I have no real barriers as in I don’t work any more which makes it easier for me…

But a little background for you… I have always worked, I have six children all grown up with children of their own… I have always cooked from scratch..sometimes out of necessity because cans or packets are generally only to feed the average size family and ours wasn’t.

I could have blown our budget and bought multiple packs of everything not only would that have been a storage problem but how to get it home or push all the trolleys required around the supermarket ..Or I could have broken it down into days and buy drinks one day, vegetables another day and still have time to work,clean, cook, do school runs and after school runs…It just wasn’t viable …

So I cooked and baked…I made use of my freezer and slow cooker and batch baked and cooked …

We had a plan and a routine it was the only way…

My first job every morning was to do the ironing and packed lunch boxes so when the kids appeared they got their pile of ironing to put away…

We had pets so whoever’s pet it was looked after it and kept the cages clean.

One washed the breakfast dishes… we didn’t have a dishwasher at that point, one dried and one put away…The biggest helped the littlest and I was never late for work and the kids were not late for school.

Did it hurt them?? Ask them!

The boys can cook, iron and clean and their wives love it!

I made no distinction between sexes…

They cook from scratch and are great cooks… Why? Because it was a way of life for us…Did they eat cake and biscuits…Yes, they did ..We had fun making them…The whole neighbourhoods kids were at my house on baking day and often we had a guest or two for dinner…That line of shoes always seemed to grow…

And as old as they are they still reminisce about holidays and food they remember me making big pots of stew and they all eat their vegetables…No fussy eaters… If your kids help prepare they are more likely to eat…

Family and community are key I believe to a healthy lifestyle we are sociable creatures aren’t we who need contact with others…

Much of that has been lost with the demise of families and friendly neighbours…Computer games and the like have also played a part…in sedentary lifestyles and other problems.

Well, that was a bit of a saga … Wasn’t it?

I still do most of what I have always done and always prepare food in advance… I portion up my meat or fish so I can cook meals during the day which are quick to do…Which is why I love the Thai way of cooking…Quick and easy just a few ingredients stir-fried and eaten with rice or noodles.

Now I am older I apply moderation more …I have eaten my fair share of chocolate and cakes and they don’t hold that fascination for me anymore ..that must eat feeling…Maybe because I have kicked the added sugar habit?

So I suppose what I am saying is if you have small children teach them to cook and help even growing some herbs or fruit…It will set them up for life …

In the picture, I have served it with cauliflower rice but I also serve with steamed rice it depends just how I feel… I absolutely love this dish it takes 15 mins max to make as long as it takes the rice to cook and if you are using cauliflower rice even quicker. You will also notice that I varied the amount of garlic and chillies I love both and use loads as well as many more herbs than I state in my recipes…

Enjoy!

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Welcome to Carol’s boot camp…We are experiencing some torrential rain but the food diary has been religiously filled in… I have left nothing out… Honest! I will tell you now though from tomorrow the diary will not be filled in as I am going to Phuket for a few days to meet up with some girlfriends for some girlie time and who wants to keep a food diary…Not me!

I know what I should be eating and I also ( as I lived) there for 5 years know what I will be eating…My 2 measured sundowners will probably Lol… There will be more I cannot be the only one partaking in a Mojito or three…I won’t lie I am going to have fun…

Diary begone for the 5 days we will resume in earnest from Saturday and as I will say it very quietly Christmas is coming and soon it will be upon us and we want to look and feel comfy in that Christmas outfit, don’t we?

I will, however, add the links to the list and the shopping list which I have found both really handy…I found this really handy and I haven’t had a biscuit for weeks…And as little Lils came at the weekend and also I thought I wasn’t being nice depriving hubby I bought a packet and no I haven’t…and I have to admit I was prompted by this post from Sally over @ Smorgasbord health and the little chart and great advice she produced …It is so handy and easy to work out anything which you eat and isn’t on the list.

I do think it was discovering just how much difference 2 digestives made in a day…It scared the bejesus out of me.

Those 2 digestive biscuits I was having with my early morning cuppa equated to 150 calories so in 1 week 1,050 calories in 1 year 54,600 calories which equals 16 lbs of fat and a 7.3-kilo weight increase…Over 5 years that could be a whole small person…

But I will get straight back on my healthy eating from Saturday and if I stay the same it will be a minor miracle but I am now 9 lbs lighter having dropped another pound this week so staying the same will be fine… and if I put on an lb or 2 then that also be fine I will just have to walk more next week.

So how have you guys done any tales of success to share???? We love a good success story, don’t we ??

So food wise my week has been good..as my son is now back in the Uk for a while my shopping has lasted a tad longer…We know who eats all the food…lol

Tonight as I am going to Phuket tomorrow I am having Pork and Thai Basil…I have stocked up and made a casserole for the hubby and the grandson and got some steak in so they are sorted…Aston actually cooks all my meat and he cooks a mean steak…I think all of the male species should be able to cook and shop ..Don’t you???

This dish is one I really like and I eat quite a lot it is quick and easy to make and can be made with sliced pork loin as pictured or with mince and the recipe is an authentic Thai one…

In the picture, I have served it with cauliflower rice but I also serve with steamed rice it really depends just how I feel… Cauliflower rice is gluten-free and has fewer calories and isn’t a carbohydrate. It is also surprisingly very nice …

You can also serve the pork with an egg which is how the Thais often eat it..If you don’t want to fry an egg then a nice poached egg would be just as nice…

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy recipes which are all tried, tested and authentic….Thai food.

My profile picture

About Carol Taylor

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

Thank you for reading and if you loved this post and know someone who would find it helpful, Please share xxx…and let me know how you are getting on in comments I would love to know we should all support each other, shouldn’t we? Xxx

Welcome back to Carol’ s Tuesday Healthy eating last week it was 4 lbs aka No biscuits and still no biscuits and no Haribos…. This week it is 1 lb but happy with that One pound it is fair as I think 5lbs in 2 weeks is good and with little effort……..I also had added temptation this weeks as little Lily came to stay and she loves her morning cuppa with a biscuit so I am pleased as I had a large packet of digestives saying eat me!

Also as she lives in very rural Thailand she doesn’t live near shops so going to 7/11 is a treat for her….But everyone knows do not get Nannie any and that is better to let everyone know which makes it harder to cheat….

I have also stepped up my walking every little helps as the saying goes….

SO what do I eat and drink here is my typical day………

Between 8 and 9 am I have my morning cup of tea the only hot drink I have in a day

10 ish I have glass of fresh coconut water straight from the drupe…

Between 11 and 12 I have my first meal which generally is either Grapow Moo, Horapa Moo, Som Tam or noodle soup. ( I) will explain what they are below.

Between 12 and 5 I drink water.

5 ish I am now feeling picky so I have either some pickles and an inch sq of feta cheese….. 2 measured sundowners.

Between 6 and 7.30 we have our evening meal just tonight it is Thai green curry.

Any drink with dinner or after is water and I don’t eat anything else( This ) is when I had got into the habit of having haribos or a magnum if the grand kiddies went down 7/11….

It is so easy for those little things to just creep up on you and the pounds creep on….I don’t eat big meals it was the in between for me.

That is why I say to you if you cut out the snacking you can eat good healthy food whatever you want guilt free at mealtimes …. I am having a Thai green curry tonight the same as everyone else….. When I make an Indian curry I have a spoonful of mango chutney I also have a piece of flatbread not a whole one as that is too much for me but my point is I eat the curry and any accompiaments and enjoy it.

Yes we make tomato based curries rather than too creamy but sometimes we do add a bit more yoghurt but it is because of personal taste.

I always cook from scratch using fresh ingredients and we don’t make sauces loaded with cheese and cream very often…I love mac and cheese but truly maybe have once or twice a year and I know that sounds a long time it just something I don’t make that often but when I do we enjoy it we just have other foods which we enjoy on a regular basis..6..It is all about choices and what we eat is our personal choice BUT if that personal choice is detrimental to our health then come on…..

Who do we cheat? We cheat ourselves and only ourselves…

Who do you cheat??? Yourself!

Here are the recipes for my first meal of the day….

Chicken/Pork and Basil ( horapa)

Ingredients: Serves 1

100 gm Chicken or Pork mince or you can use loin and slice finely.

2 Long snake beans

3 cloves garlic

3/ 4 Thai chillies

Big handful of Thai basil pick leaves from stem

1 tbsp Oyster sauce

1/2 tsp Dark soy sauce

A shake or 2 of Maggie seasoning sauce

Lets Cook!

Wash and cut snake beans in half inch pieces

Peel garlic and chop chillies then grind in pestle and mortar

Heat a very small amount of coconut oil in a pan and add chillies and garlic cook while stirring for 30 seconds and add meat cook stirring until mince or meat has browned, add sauces and a little drop of water.

Add beans and cook for 1-2 minutes add basil and cook for another minute.

You are now ready to serve with rice …I use black rice if I have it or organic white rice I eat about 2 tbsps cooked rice and a couple of spoonfuls of the pork or chicken this recipe serves 2/3 depending on size of portion. If I am cutting carbs down I would make cauliflower rice which I really like.

This image shows my portion and this is with cauliflower rice. I’m am writing this on my iPad as my laptop is sick and I was going to show you noodle soup but the pictures are son a USB stick which doesn’t attach to the iPad so that will be for next time hoping I have a laptop… I am finding the iPad somewhat restricting….

What a week this has been... Have I got the mother of all roundups for you just in case you missed any of my posts…

I started with my recipe for Asian style ribs... And guess what the first time we made them they were awesome but I was the sous chef on that occasion and not paying too much attention…..I was chopping and julienning the ginger and writing down the recipe while taking photos…One’s son was cooking the said ribs… They were AWESOME THE BEST!

Take 2!

Mum pulled up the recipe and we started preparing the ribs…

There then ensued a conversation as to which soy sauce was used… I had written the recipe down WRONG ….who would think one word would make a difference…Oh, it did! Trust me…. Black Soy…Black Soy Black Soy…I will not be forgetting that!

I have also amended the recipe and apologise to anyone who used just regular soy…

I think this was my rant of the week/century I was/ am appalled at the duplicity of manufacturers regarding the consumer’s health.

The turn of the Fig…not particularly the prettiest of fruits but very good for you and lovely with bacon but so is everything…Too many and you get the back door trots…but just enough and they keep you regular…

Next is the very tasty, healthy alternative to rice… Tada…Cauliflower rice…Now just in case you were wondering and thought I was teasing you by showing the Pork and Thai basil dish I ate mine with…so I have added the link for you…

Oh yes…guess what I have found ???? Recipes for Home Made: Kahlua, Bailey’s and Grenadine and I’m sure if I really looked I could find many more…… ohhhhhh excited or what…yay……

If you can’t find me in the kitchen over the next few days I am probably under the kitchen table…… a girl has got to taste…and my mantra is taste, taste and taste…….what can I say?????…..Merrrrrrrryyyy Christmassssss x

Bugs or what..kept finding what looked like sugar and thinking someone had been careless..mmmm…..but last couple of days a lot more and my son said mmmmm looks like eggs or something ….having visions of lots of spiders running around…so have had all the cupboards out today in the kitchen and what wasn’t in a sealed container …now is……thrown out a few bits as well…lovely tidy cupboards…my dough dolly which my daughter bought me a few years ago and had not been put up cos couldn’t put anything up in last house…. came to light but she was very soft…think humidity had got through the glaze and so had to throw her away…..sad… but I found some Xmas crackers …bonus….so even though we live in a tropical climate and lots of my friends envy me…there are down sides it seems to be more humid where I live now than my other house…..but…hey ho….small price to pay, well that and the fact there is no snow!……Ha, Ha…bet you thought I had got over that one……

Now isn’t that easy? and …you can get about 4 batches from one bottle of Irish Whiskey so by my reckoning that’s a real saving and lots of Baileys…yay……

Just heard the news and the siege in Sidney is over…….and at what cost…..my heart goes out to all those affected by this………..

and I am sure I will not be the only one sincerely hoping and praying for peace in the world this Christmas and into the following years…I am not a political person..but please if everyone did or showed a little more kindness to their fellow-men who maybe weren’t so fortunate would the world not be a better place for us and our children to live in?…sorry guys I just had to x

What No Snow! But I have a snowman…..…..he has been around the world with me..bought him in Kentucky and they wouldn’t let him through( when all the liquid scare was on) luckily my cousin was still there and the very kind man run him over to her..he then was posted to the Uk..survived a couple of moves and now is in Sunny Thailand so a jet-setting snowman…..But my little bit of Xmas cheer…..

Tip: If you can’t get snake beans then french beans will l do. I also sometimes add other vegs i.e asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower or sugar snap peas cut small. Whatever I fancy at the time or have in the fridge.

It’s quick and easy to cook..if you work then you could cut up ingredients and put in the fridge and just as long as it takes to cook your rice you will have dinner…easy peasy… and taste until you get it right for you.

I also buy a piece pork loin cut it into portion sizes and bag and freeze and then just take out as I require ..it thaws quick. If you want to increase portion for 2 or 3 just double or triple meat, bit more veg but chillies for 3 people I would use say 3 chillies unless they were like me and like it hot (Ped) just taste and use common sense on veg added….. some like more, some less very personal.

Sayonara if you hadn’t guessed is Japanese…….

Goodbye until next time ….off to have some Pork and Basil….they laugh at me here and just know what my brekkie will be…………view from my office while I eat my brekkie x